


I See and I Hear You (loud as a bomb)

by WithTheKeyIsKing



Series: Teach You to Fly [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers, F/M, M/M, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Past Brainwashing, Polyamory, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-05-29 02:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6355087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WithTheKeyIsKing/pseuds/WithTheKeyIsKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My story "Teach You to Fly (before you fall)" from the perspective of the Avengers and Co.</p><p>I recommend you read that first, but you technically don't have to</p>
            </blockquote>





	I See and I Hear You (loud as a bomb)

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you who haven't read the comics, I included a little history on Clint. Yay!
> 
> (And I used the movie's version of how Clint and Natasha met, not the actual version. If you would like to know the actual version, all you have to do is ask me!)

When Phillip Coulson received the file on the notorious criminal Codename: Hawkeye, he really didn't know what to think. Phil had heard of Hawkeye before, of course, like most of the SHIELD higher-ups; the archer had been placed on SHIELD's watch-list a couple of years ago, and Phil made sure he was kept up to date on everyone who was and was not on the list.

The man's name was Clinton Francis Barton. He was born in Waverly, Iowa, to parents Edith and Harold Barton. He had a brother, Charles Bernard Barton (nicknamed Barney) who was currently in prison for armed robbery. According to the multiple hospital reports and social worker reports from Clint Barton's childhood, Harold Barton was violent with his children, especially when he was drunk. Harold and Edith were killed in a car crash when Clint Barton was nine years old.

After that the boy and his brother bounced from orphanage to orphanage until they ran away and joined a circus. The younger Barton brother was instantly picked to be protégé to Buck Chrisholm, the criminal known as Trickshot, and Jacques Duquesne, the criminal known as Swordsman. Barney Barton soon joined the two older men in their illegal escapades. When Clint Barton tried to stop his brother and mentors, he was struck down and left for dead. Somehow, from there, Clinton F. Barton became Hawkeye, using his circus show-name to become a master thief, assassin, and muscle for those who paid enough.

And now Nick was askingno, was _telling_ Phil to recruit this...this...Phil didn't even know what to call someone like Hawkeye.

It was clear just from the file that Clint Barton was not a bad guy. Hell, SHIELD had recruited _actually bad_ people, so Phil knew the difference. Clint Barton had _zero_ civilian casualties, and only seemed to do enough jobs to keep himself afloat, so he did the jobs because he saw no other choice, not because he liked it. Plus, he had tried to stop his brother and mentors from doing criminal activity, which said a lot.

So, taking all of this into account, Phil went after Clint Barton. It took him two months and thirteen daysBarton was easy to find in the beginning, but kept slipping through SHIELD's fingersbut finally, Phil caught up to the archer. He sat next to the other man at a bar, gave his not-so-normal recruitment spiel (he figured Clint could use some different words) and then was bringing Hawkeye in.

Over their time working together, Phil couldn't help but enjoy himself. It was clear that he was one of the only people at SHIELD that the cocky and sarcastic Clint actually liked, which made Phil feel a lot more special than it should have. He made sure not to play into Clint's hands to much, keeping his poker face whenever Clint pulled a stunt, but Phil had a feeling that the archer could tell that Phil was amused.

Two months and thirteen days into their (as Clint would call it and Phil would deny) friendship, Phil woke up to the most beautiful Soulmark he'd ever seen. It was the image of a birda _hawk,_ Phil knewin flight, carrying a purple arrow in its beak. It was clear whose Soulmark it was, which both pleased and depressed Phil. While it made him happy to have a piece of Clint with him always, Clint was also his subordinate, and his asset. There was no way they would be allowed to be together and keep working together, and Phil _needed_ to work with Clint.

If Phil wasn't Clint's S.O., then Clint would be stifled. Most of the other senior agents saw Clint as the dumb kid from Iowa, and found him to be rude and egotistical. They didn't see the brilliance in most of Clint's strategies, the humor in his sarcasm, or the truth in his self-pride. They didn't see how he doubted himself at every turn, and just barely covered it up with a cocky smile. They didn't see how special Clint truly was.

That made Phil's decision. He couldn't choose his own feeling over what was best for Clint, he couldn't put himself above giving Clint a chance at rising above all of the people who would have his lie down and take it.

So Phil went out to date, trying to get his mind off of the amazing man living back at SHIELD. Phil started seeing a woman, a cellist named Audrey, but the relationship barely last two weeks before she ended things, recognizing the fact that he was clearly in love with someone else. They stayed friends, though, and Phil counted himself lucky to have such a great woman in his life.

 

Maria thought that Clint Barton was the most annoying little shit she had ever had the displeasure to meet. He was cocky and arrogant, pulling pranks left and right instead of focusing on his training, like he should have been. Sure, he was a pretty fantastic marksmanwith all things, weapon or not, because _of course he would be_ but that didn’t give him the right to walk around like he was king of the fucking proverbial jungle.

And Agent Coulsonthe man Maria couldn’t help but respect, because he was a brilliant agentwas no help, protecting Barton from any punishments that Barton was sure to acquire in all of his stunts. Maria thought about taking the issue directly to Director Fury, but she didn’t want to be the person that went around Agent Coulson; he was her superior while she was in training and she didn’t want to do anything to screw up her chances, even if Director Fury had gone to recruit her personally.

Maria was in the top all of her courses, except for marksmanship. Don’t get it wrong, she was an excellent shooter, especially with a pistol, but Clint fucking Barton made everyone else look like four years olds whenever he stepped up to the plate. So, Maria decided to make a deal with the devil; she approached Barton and offered him an arrangement: if he would help her improve her aimwhich was already excellent, thank you very muchthen she would help him with their world languages course. Barton accepted, but not without first teasing Maria about needing help, but Maria jabbed back just as hard.

They began working together; Maria had always had an ear for languages, speaking three fluently so far, so she was probably the best person to help Clint out, and Clint was _definitely_ the best person to help her with marksmanship. Somewhere along the way Barton became Clint, and Maria found herself smiling at Clint’s jokes (still rolling her eyes, of course) and enjoying his company. Then, one afternoon, she discovered a Soulmark on her ankle, a beautiful hawk in flight with an arrow in its mouth. Whose other than Clint’s could it be?

Maria agonized over the problem all afternoon. Getting involved with Clint could put her career on hold; while SHIELD agents were allowed to date each other, it was highly frowned upon, even if the pair shared marks (though it was a bit better if they did). Then again, this was the first time a Soulmark had ever appeared on her body, the first time she had ever been in love.

Finally, Maria decided that deciding could wait. That night she went out with other recruits Bobbi Morse, Brock Rumlow, and Clint. They drank the night away, not having to return to training for another two days. When Bobbi and Brock decided to head back to their own quarters, Clint and Maria leaned on each other in their drunken state and stumbled their way to Maria’s quarters, in which they made out. Quite a lot.

The next morning, in her heavily hungover-ness, Maria made her decision. SHIELD was a great thing for her, and she wouldn’tno, she _couldn’t_ do anything to ruin her chances of getting ahead. Maybe someday, when Maria had the high position she wanted and Clint was doing well for himself, they could try. So when Clint knocked on her door, holding what he called his home-made hangover cure and wearing his trademark grin, she drank it and told him in no unsure circumstances that what had happened between them was not to be repeated, and that she wanted to continue being his best friend.

And if Clint looked down even while telling jokes or if his grin felt flat, then Maria didn’t notice it. Nope, not one bit.

 

Agent Clint BartonCodename: Hawkeyewas a little shit and a pain in Nick’s side, and yet Nick found himself laughing every time Phil told him about the archer’s latest stunt. Listening to watercooler gossip (and seriously, SHIELD agents were _actually_ standing around a watercooler sharing gossip? What the fuck?) in the air duct above it, putting fake spiders in Sitwell’s quarters, dyeing Garrett’s fingertips blue while he slept…the pranks went on and on, and Nick thought it was the funniest thingnot that he would ever let anyone but Phil know that.

When Clint started going out on real missions, and started bringing back win after win after win, Nick could feel the change in the SHIELD higher-ups; everyone who had thought Clint was a waste of time or that he wouldn’t make a good agent were proved wrong and finally shut up, seeing proof in front of them of how incredibly _great_ Clint was at this job. Nick knew Phil was quite proud, knew that Phil loved Clint, even when Phil decided that he would never do anything about it, would never give up on Clint’s career like that. Nick was very proud, too, and very happy that he had decided to recruit the reformed-criminal instead of take him out. Taking him out would’ve been such a waste.

When Phil decided that he was going to have Clint learn how to fly a quinjet, Nick jumped at the chance to do it himself. He had a bit of time every couple of days that he could work with the archer, plus he really wanted to actually talk to the young man, find out more about the person who was steadily becoming one of SHIELD’s top agents, along with a woman by the name of Maria Hill that had been an excellent soldier, and was now an excellent agent.

Slowly but surely over the course of the flying lessons, Nick fell for Clint. Clint was methodical and precise when flying, doing everything perfectly on almost always his first try. Nick only had to explain something once and Clint would get it and do it immediately. So not only was Hawkeye one of SHIELD’s best field agents, but now he was one of their best pilots as well.

However, while Nick fell for Clint, he fell for Maria Hill, too. He had taken a particular interest in Maria from the beginning, being so amazed at her military career that he went personally to ask her to join SHIELD. From the beginning, Nick had had a stake in how Maria did, and when she started showing signs of real excellence (number one in all of her classes but two, which were held by Clint) Nick began to train her in a leadership role, knowing that the short-tempered and ruthless woman could go all the way.

Their marks appeared on Nick the same day, coincidentally. A hawk in flight with a purple arrow in its mouth on his left hip, and a dark blue swirling pattern on his right hip (Nick later learned that it was a Gaelic symbol for strength).

Nick knew that Phil was still really in love with Clint, and he had a feeling from the way Clint looked at Phil that the feeling was mutual. Nick knew that he couldn’t be with either of them; the Director dating his subordinate (especially one so completely moving through the ranks) would look very bad, and could destroy the careers of all the people involved.

So Nick decided he was going to tell Maria, but explain that he did not want a relationship with her because he felt that she could do great things and he didn’t want to get in the way of that. When he told her exactly that, Maria just rolled her eyes and nodded, saying that she held his mark as well and no, she did not want a relationship with him, either, because she was so close to getting promoted and wasn’t going to chance that for anything. They mutually agreed to do nothing, and continued in their working relationship like nothing had ever happened, just the way the both of them wanted it to be.

 

Natalia's mission was pretty straight forward; she had to confirm that the target was at Trevi Fountain like he was supposed to be, approach him and administer the poison that would kill him but wouldn't show up on an autopsy. She'd done missions like this one millions of times before, and much harder ones even more often, so it was nothing.

What was _not_  nothing was the fact that there was a sniper (with a bow and arrow, no less) on a rooftop over looking the fountain, his arrow knocked and pointed right at her.

Natalia stared back at the man (blonde, well-built, on the shorter side for a man), and made no move to get out of the line of fire. If this is how she was going to be put downand it would be being  _put down,_ she was an animalthen she would be okay with it. Finally someone as dangerous as her was going to leave for good, making the world a much better place. A much better place without her in it.

But then the man was removing his eye from the scope and just looked at her. His lips moved, but Natalia couldn't make out what he was saying at such a distance, and then he was lowering his weapon. The next thing Natalia knew the man disappeared from the roof and reappeared on the ground floor. The two assassins stared at each other for a few moments, then the man inclined his head towards an alleyway to his right, and Natalia followed him when he began walking to it.

The alley was darker than the open plaza they had just come from, but still light enough to make out each individual stone on the buildings to either side of them. When Natalia saw the man stop walking and turn to face her, she (on instinct) pulled her handgun out of her hiding spot and pointed it at him. She didn't know what else to do, she'd been trained to take down men, not to let them live.

 _"You gonna shoot me, Widow? Because I have an offer for you."_ the man said, and for the first time in her life, Natalia wasn't sure.

Two days later she walked into SHIELD Headquarters with her partner Clint at her side, as a new woman. Natalia Romanava was dead, Natasha Romanoff was born. It was good to be start fresh.

Quickly, she and Clint (Hawkeye; her old masters had actually warned her about him) became a flawless pair, working together so seamlessly they didn't even need to speak to communicate. Together they rose through the ranks of SHIELD, each adding something that the other couldn't provide. Clint was the one person that stood by her no matter what, throughout all of the distrust and fearful looks and anger towards her, he defended her at every turn, not that she needed someone to protect her. But the sentiment was greatly appreciated.

It wasn't even a month and a half after that fateful day in Rome, when Natasha (and boy, didn't it feel good to pick her own name) was stitching Clint up after a particularly shitty mission. He had a large gash right above his right hip, and Natasha was meticulously stitching it up, grumbling to Clint in Russian about the fact that he always made her do it even though they had a perfectly good medical (Clint knew that she wasn't serious, she knew he had a good reason to hate medical). It was right in that moment that Clint was smiling softly at her and she was muttering in Russian when the Soulmark appeared right in front of her face.

Natasha froze, staring at the familiar red triangles that formed her own Soulmark on Clint's body, two inches above where she was currently stitching up a large wound. Sensing the change in her, Clint followed her gaze and cursed, his cheeks heating up. He looked away and muttered an apology in Russian, and began moving as if to get up.

Natasha caught him before he could stand and made a quick comment about not being finished. The next few minutes were filled with a tense silence as Natasha finished closing the wound and wrapped it in bandages. Then she she stood from where she'd been crouching on the ground and put her hands on either side of Clint's face, waited until he met her eyes, and then kissed him.

Later, when they were holding each other and watching a movie in Clint's quarters, Natasha regretfully explained that she did not hold his Soulmark, that she did not hold anyone's Soulmark, and she did not think she ever would. She explained that she did love him, (very much, in fact) but not like that. She was very grateful when he truthfully said that he understood and that he was ok with it, and that he didn't want anything to change between them. Natasha agreed wholeheartedly.

 

It was a Thursday when Tony met Clint. The billionaire was consulting on a project for some clean-energy stuff that SHIELD was working on (frankly, Tony wasn't paying too much attention in the briefing) when he ran into the archerquite literally. The blonde man's quick reflexes kept both Tony and himself from crashing to the ground, which Tony had to admit was pretty hot (especially since Tony ended up flush against the other man's chest).

On instinct, Tony grinned and cracked a joke about it being destiny that they ran into each other. He was happily surprised to find the other man grin and quip something right back at him.

And so began one of the most epic friendships to ever exist. Both Tony and Clint enjoyed sarcasm and pranks, so on every opportunity they had, they would pull pranks on each other and on all of the people around them. Agent was a particularly popular target for the two men, seeing as he was used to dealing with Clint's shit, and didn't take any of it lying down.

Tony was showering when he discovered the Soulmark on his left pectoral. It was a black bird with its wings spread as if in flight, holding a purple arrow in its beak. Tony quickly figured out that the bird was a hawk, and that the Soulmark belonged to Clint. Tony immediately exited the shower and went to talk to Pepper about what he should do. She advised him to follow his heart, that if he wanted to be with both of them then that would be fine, and if he didn't that would be fine also. In the end Tony chose to keep the news to himself, not wanting Clint to feel like one of his conquests.

 

Thor was quite happy on Earth with his new shield-brothers and sister. He had the lovely Lady Jane Foster, as well, a woman he loved fiercely, and was so happy to be able to call his own.

It was on the Avengers' first battle post-Loki when the burning of a Soulmark came back. Son of Bart, the mighty Hawkeye, had just run out of arrows and was being forced into close combat with a group of strange looking creatures (Thor did not try to find out what they were, simply enjoying the thrill of battle). It was quite an amazing sight to behold, the effortless way that HawkeyeClintbattled his many opponents. It was then that Thor felt a familiar burning on his right shoulder, signaling that a new Soulmark was forming.

Soulmarks worked differently on Asgard than they did on Earth. Instead of the marks appearing the moment the recipient fell in love like they did on Midgard, Soulmarks appeared in a moment of deep respect and admiration, in a time when the recipient felt awe and reverence towards the other person. Most often marks were received in the heat of battle, when one man or woman went out of their way to protect another.

Thor had received Lady Jane's Soulmark when she had given him the long speech about going to get her research with or without him; he had admired her greatly for her dedication to her work, and her courage in the face of adversity. The mark had burned itself onto his lower right stomach in that moment. Jane had told him that his mark had appeared on her when he had stood up to the Destroyer.

So here Thor was, watching Clint Barton effortlessly take down opponent after opponent with a grace that was otherworldly, and a new Soulmark was burning itself onto his right shoulder. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he had received the mark of none other than the archer.

 

Steve was alive, Bucky was dead, and Peggy would be soon.

Steve didn't know why he was still alive; the modern doctors seemed to think it had something to do with his blood, with the fact that he had the super soldier serum in him, and that that had allowed him to survive being frozen. They all thought it was quite incredible. But everything that the doctors said didn't explain why he was still alive when he wanted so badly not to be.

When Bucky had fallen from the train, when Steve had failed to save the man he loved, Steve had thought that was the end. He had kept going, though, because Peggy needed himthe _world_ needed him, and he wasn't selfish enough to simply give up on everyone in existence just because he had lost the one person who had stood by him no matter what. The one person that had loved him despite everything (and everyone) telling him that it was wrong.

And now Steve was seventy years in the future and Peggy was elderly, so close to the end of her life. And Bucky was...well, Bucky was still dead. The world had moved on since it had been so long, but for Steve it was still a very fresh wound. For Steve, Bucky had only died a few weeks ago. For Steve, his best friendhis first loveand all of his other friends were dead and gone, and his last remaining link to that time period was not quite all there in her old age.

Steve wanted to like SHIELD. Apparently, Peggy and Howard had been founding members of the organization, so the Captain went into his working relationship with them with an open mind. SHIELD was kind enough to find Steve an apartment in Brooklyn, very close to where he used to live. However, while Steve _thought_ it was kindness that motivated SHIELD, or at least pity, it was clearly something else.

The man-out-of-time had been living at the SHIELD-paid-for apartment for about two and a half weeks when he figured out who his next door neighbor, Abigail, really was. The girl was nice enough, always polite when talking to the people around her, and quite pretty, too; but when a robber had tried to mug her outside their apartment building, Abigail had had the man on the ground faster than you could call for help. And not only that, she started to arrest him. She had told Steve she was an actress. It didn't take Steve too long to put the pieces together.

When Steve stormed into SHIELD to ask Director Nick Fury why, exactly, he had set Steve up with a chaperone, the man simply said that he thought that it was better to monitor Steve, just in case Steve wasn't adjusting to the twenty-first century as well as he seemed to be. Eventually, Steve stormed right back out of Fury's office, having realized that his complaint was not going to change anything.

From that point on, he was a lot more wary around any new people he met. For example, the woman he met while waiting on line for a cup of coffee at Starbucks. She introduced herself as Sharon; she was a nurse at the local hospital, blonde and blue-eyed, very pretty. They became fast friends, even though Steve was still afraid that he would have another Abigail situation on his hands. It wasn't even a month and a half later when he caught site of Sharon at a SHIELD facility, and figured out the truth behind who Sharon really was.

Steve took to secluding himself, not wanting to put his faith in more people to only find out that the whole thing was a lie, that they had only been spending time with him because they had been assigned to do so. The super-soldier through himself into his self-training; he went to the gym daily, staying there for hours and hours until he physically couldn't take it anymore (which took a while, with the serum in his blood).

Steve was at the gym working over a punching bag when the man entered. He was handsome, with blonde hair and eyes that seemed to change color with the light. He was muscular, too; not like a body builder, but like a person who had been fighting for years. He was maybe a few inches shorter than Steve was, and was wearing a purple shirt under a black leather jacket and cargo pants, his hands shoved into his jacket pockets.

"Hey," the man said, voice smooth, eyes alight in curiosity and something like humor. "Steve Rogers, right? Nice to meet you; I'm Clint Barton." Steve shook the man's hand and opened his mouth to reply with a polite greeting of his own, when the manClint Bartonspoke again, "I work for SHIELD."

Steve's expression closed off and he withdrew his hand, going back to punching the punching bag. "Yeah? And what does SHIELD want with me today? Have you come to be another babysitter, _Agent?"_

Our of the corner of his eye, Steve saw Agent Barton shrug and move over to one of the other punching bags, shrugging off his leather jacket. He began to throw punches at the bag, and Steve had clearly been right; the man was a fighter.

"That's why SHIELD sent me here, yes," Agent Barton admitted, surprising Steve. "But that's not why I came. I came because I figured that if I was in your shoes, I'd be pretty sick of a government agency sending people to spy on me and report back to their superiors while pretending to be my friends. Yeah, I would seriously hate that. So think of me as your break, Captain Rogers; while I'm here, SHIELD won't send anyone else, and you don't even have to talk to me. Deal?"

Steve didn't reply, but figured the subtle relaxing of his tense muscles was response enough for a trained agent of SHIELD. The two men continued to work out in ~~companionable~~ silence.

A week passed with much of the same thing. In the morning, Steve would walk one block over from his apartment building to the gym, where he would start working out. Within an hour, Agent Clint Barton would show up. The two didn't talk, but slowly Steve became comfortable around the other man; the other man didn't force him to be his friend, didn't force him to talk, didn't pretend to be anything other than whowhathe was. It was refreshing, and soon enough Steve was bridging the gap between them and truly becoming the man's friend.

Steve got to know Clint very well over the course of the next few months. Clint grew up in an abusive home and ran away to the circus with his brother, which was where he honed his marksman skills and became the performer known as Hawkeye. He joined SHIELD to help people, and was very proud of the fact that he did exactly that. Steve was proud to be able to call Clint his friend.

Clint was the first person that Steve opened up to about his time before the ice. He told Clint about Bucky and how they'd been in love (he even showed Clint Bucky's mark), and about the rest of the Howling Commandos. He shared his favorite stories about his friends, and about Peggy and Howard. Clint never interrupted, never looked bored, never looked at Steve with pity or anything other than acceptance and understanding. It was the most refreshing thing that Steve had ever come across, and it was absolutely no surprise when Steve caught sight of a new Soulmarkhis third one everin the middle of his back.

When it came to love, Steve was a coward. He hadn't started anything with Bucky because he'd been afraid that his friend would hate him for having those feelings; it had been Bucky who made the first move. Even with Peggy, Steve hadn't even done anything until it was too late for anything to actually happen. So, it was the same with his feelings for Clint. He didn't want to ruin anything; he didn't even know if Clint swung that way. Better to not rock the boat at all.

 

Bruce felt so alone all the time.

He knew that was strange, since he had another whole _being_ inside of him, but that was the way it was. Even living in Stark Towerno, wait, _Avengers_ Towerwith the rest of his team (and man, wasn't that amazing? He had a _team_ who actually seemed to care about him) wasn't enough to break him of the feeling that he was on his own, that, no matter what, it was on him whether he survived or was taken down.

Bruce liked hanging out with Tony because Tony seriously didn't seem to care that there was a beast inside of him, but sometimes Tony just took it too far. Sometimes Tony would do everything in his power to try and get the Other Guy to come out, even when they were in Avengers Tower with a lot of innocent people just waiting in the floors below. So yes, hanging out with Tony was good, but dangerous, too.

Clint's friendship came as a surprise. Bruce had been pulling an all-nighter in his lab (a bad habit he had picked up from Tony) trying to figure out a complex equation, when the archer and just strolled right in and started asking questions about his work. The surprising part was that while Clint didn't seem to understand most of what Bruce said, he did seem genuinely interested and willing to learn.

Clint was a quick study. He wasn't a genius, but he was incredibly smart, especially for someone that had dropped out of school in middle school. Bruce only had to explain something once before Clint picked up on it, and soon enough the two men were having complex conversations and Clint was actually assisting Bruce in the lab. It was incredible to Bruce; Clint not only _completely did not care_ about the fact that Bruce had an alter ego, but Clint also seemed to get along incredibly well with the Other Guy. Also, it didn't hurt that Clint was very funny and kind, not to mention charming.

Bruce found himself opening up to Clint like he hadn't done since Betty. Clint was an attentive listener and seemed to care deeply (without judgment) about everything that Bruce said

When Bruce found a hawk in flight with a purple arrow held in its beak on his left ankle, he felt resigned. The last person he had loved hadwell, it had ended very badly for the both of them. The two people Bruce had loved _before_ Betty hadn't even loved him back, so you could say that Bruce really had not had any luck in love. Bruce didn't want his relationship with Clint to change; it was so pure and perfect that he figured it was better to leave it how it was, better to not mess it up. Better for everyone who was involved in the messed up situation.

 

Looking back, Sam could pinpoint the exact moment his life started to go to shit. It was when Steve Rogers ran passed him while jogging and called out _"on your left."_ From that moment on his life changed forever.

Sam fell for Steve quickly. From the moment he met the blonde man, Sam had had a little crush on Steve. It only grew and grew until one morning (they were looking for Bucky; they were in Spain, had gotten a lead that Buck was there. The lead hadn't gone anywhere, at least in seemed that way. They were leaving Spain in a few hours and the two men where just eating breakfast) Sam found a blue star on the back on his right thigh.

Sam, never one to keep feelings hidden, had laid his cards on the table. He showed Steve and told the other man that he didn't expect anything, but he wanted Steve to have all of the facts to make an informed decision. Sam wasn't _too_ surprised when Steve leaned across the table and kissed him, but was happy about it none-the-less, especially when Steve showed that he had Sam's Soulmark (a pair of red and black wings) on the side of his stomach.

Between leads, Sam and Steve would stay at Avengers Tower. It was there that Sam got to know Clint Barton pretty well. The two both had the same kind of humor, and found it funny to relate over their bird-related names.

After Sam and Steve had found Bucky and gone on the long journey to bring the man back to New York with them (during which Sam fell for the other icicle-man, just like he fell for Steve) Sam discovered Clint's Soulmark on his left collarbone. Coincidentally, Sam found both Clint's mark and Bucky's mark on the same day.

 

When The Soldier (Bucky? James? Sargent Barnes? Who was he?) finally allowed the Man-From-The-Bridge _(Steve, his name is Steve, and he is my friend)_  and the Man-With-The-Wings (The Soldier/Bucky learned that his name was Sam Wilson, a damn good pilot, codename Falcon) to find him, he felt a bit better about knowing who he was. Not that he was certain, of course; everything was still such a blur. All he knew was that Steve _(cold nights huddled together under the blankets, hidden kisses when no one was looking, pride watching the blonde fight)_ was his friend and would help him.

The-Soldier-Bucky got to know Steve (again) and Sam over the long journey back to America while avoiding Hydra and trying to move around enough to stay hidden. More things came up each day in The-Soldier-Bucky's mind about his past, some things that made him cringe and wake up screaming and other things that brought him comfort. When the three finally arrived back in New York, The-Soldier-Bucky had gained a partner and reconnected with an old one.

Over the course of two weeks, The-Soldier-Bucky was introduced to each of Steve and Sam's friends _(The Avengers, not a threat to him)_ one by one. Whoever-he-was was told a bit about each of them beforehand so that he was prepared when he encountered them, but nothing prepared him for the forced calm and wary glances and hesitant trust. Nothing prepared him for distrust after spending so much time with Steve and Sam.

The last Avenger that _he_ (still no name felt right) met was the archer, Clint Barton. Steve and Sam told him that the man called Hawkeye had been brainwashed, too; his mind taken over by an alien calling himself a god, his skills used against the people he cared about. _He_ could seriously relate.

The first thing he said when he met Clint was about being the archer being brainwashed, which he instantly regretted when the other man seemed to shrink in onto himself. He was quick to reassure the man by saying that he understood completely. This started a beautiful friendship.

It was a few months later, when Bucky was already in a sort-of-stable relationship with Steve and Sam, that James (yes, James fit; Clint had given that to him) new without a shadow of a doubt that the hawk and arrow on his wrist did not lie; he loved Clint. He knew that Steve and Sam both loved the archer, too, but were afraid that Clint wasn't polyamorous like that were, and didn't even know if Clint felt the same way about them.

So the three of them did nothing.

* * *

Later, when it was revealed that Clint loved all of them back, when Clint wass hurt and the team saw all of Clint's Soulmarks, they would all be lost about what to do. That is, until Sam Wilson opens his mouth and forms a plan (one that Tony doesn't particularly agree with, but goes along with anyway).

The Avengers would all be happy.

If Phil, Maria and Nick would be...well, that's another story.

**Author's Note:**

> HAHAHA YES! I have FINALLY finished this! Man, I have been working on this thing for forever. This was supposed to be shorter than it ended up being, but I got so into giving Clint lots of love, that I just didn't stop. So...yea, here you guys go! I hope you like it!
> 
> And yes, before you ask, a sequel with Phil, Maria, and Nick should be coming sometime soon


End file.
